If you’ve ever wondered how massive industrial grade wind turbines are created and shipped then you’re in luck, read on! In this brief article we’ll explore the blades made at the Molded Fiber Glass Company in Texas.
These specific blades are made of fiberglass and shaped similar to an aircraft wing to harness wind energy at maximum efficiency. They are coated with epoxy to protect them from the elements and hold the form much like a surf board or modern boat hull. The epoxy in the fiberglass has to harden properly before the blades can be removed from their mandrels and painted. Even then, when the blades are first removed the epoxy is not fully cured and the blades are relatively soft. For this reason blades are stored in rows outside, so they can cure.
The blades above are resting in special fixtures designed to help them hold their shape. They will remain in this position to cure in the hot Texas sun for several weeks before the process is complete and they’re ready to be shipped out to location for installation. Curing this way isn’t done to save energy or because of some time honored tradition, it’s just very expensive to build an industrial sized curing oven that can hold a blade this large, much less a whole row of them! And ultimately, it does save energy too.
Remember, the images you see here are merely the blades for industrial sized wind turbines. The polls and turbines that hold these blades are built elsewhere.
